


and they were soulmates (oh my god they were soulmates)

by colderthancold



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, collection of soulmate aus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2019-11-14 17:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18056648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colderthancold/pseuds/colderthancold
Summary: 6. “I’ll wait for you.” or in which Jungeun can’t believe her life can turn colorful just like that.





	1. yellow

**Author's Note:**

> 2jin au in which everyone remains frozen in time until you and your soulmate fall in love with the other.

         It was confusing, to say the least. But it seemed like the world worked like that; when someone met their soulmate time stopped until the two fell in love with the other. They grew old when time stopped, too, and things such as day, night and seasons were still working. It was like only the other people aside from the pair of soulmates were frozen.

Some people told stories about soulmates that ended up being almost corpses waiting to get along, and to some, it did happen— let’s say that when time stopped a new reality that was beyond the fictional concepts of place and time was opened, so when the said soulmates finally fell in love, everything was back like it was the moment time stopped. They were the same age they were in the start, and in the same place too. So it was often explained as an ultra-realistic dream in which only you and your soulmate weren’t frozen, from which you woke up after falling in love with them. Heejin just wanted to get along with her soulmate at once so she didn’t have to miss everybody else while living with someone she didn’t like. Jinsoul had told her she spent two years with Jungeun until she said ‘I love you’ (even if Jungeun said it had only been three months). But there were also people like with Chaewon and Hyejoo that didn’t need more than a few minutes to be head over heels for the other. Heejin liked hearing soulmate stories and dreamed about meeting hers. She’d never tell anyone, but she considered herself a hopeless romantic.

         And one rather random day, it happened. Most of Heejin’s friends had already met their soulmates and she was still patiently waiting for hers, but didn’t have much hope about meeting them that year. They lived in a small town, after all. It wasn’t like she didn’t know everyone who lived there, which meant it was impossible for her soulmate to do so, which meant she’d have to wait until she moved out for time to finally stop. Which also meant she didn’t think of the transfer student variable, and when Kim Hyunjin entered her classroom, she didn’t expect her to be her soulmate. She was talking to Chaewon when it happened. When she saw Chaewon shutting up mid-phrase, she knew something was wrong. She saw someone look around and sit on an empty desk. Her heart skipped a beat. She was her soulmate, she had to be.

         “Hey!” Heejin walked where she was. She was shaking. It was arguably the most important moment of her life, after all. The moment she had waited for ever since she was a kid. Of course she wanted it to be perfect. “Hello, I’m Jeon Heejin.” She smiled widely at Hyunjin. She couldn’t help it.

         Hyunjin didn’t look at her and muttered a careless ‘hello’. Heejin frowned. Hadn’t she noticed time stopped?

         “Are you new in town?” Heejin asked. Then, she chuckled. “I mean, of course you are. I hadn’t seen you before. When did you arrive?”

         “Uh, Saturday. I’m Kim Hyunjin, by the way.” But she still didn’t show interest on Heejin. Disappointing. Heejin even considered leaving the classroom and hiding somewhere out of embarrassment. She wanted earth to swallow her. Why was her soulmate acting like that?

         They remained quiet until Hyunjin took a good look around.

“Wait a second.” She said, frowning. “Time stopped. Are you… Are you my soulmate?”

“I’d say so, yes.” Heejin said. She blushed and couldn’t help but smile again. She was happy she had noticed and her heart felt fluffy.

“Wow. I didn’t— well, I didn’t expect it.” Hyunjin said.

“I just— I’m so happy!” Heejin hugged Hyunjin and Hyunjin took a few seconds before hugging her back. Her hug was robot-like and distant. “I’m-I’m sorry. It’s just— yay! You know?” Heejin said, even if she felt a bit sad at her soulmate’s coldness. Still, Hyunjin seemed to have understood her rather vague feeling-related description.

“Yeah. I mean, wow. It’s— wow.” But she didn’t seem as excited as Heejin. She seemed oblivious to everything that was going on.

“Is there something wrong?” Heejin asked. Hyunjin shrugged.

“No, I think. I mean, I didn’t expect to find my soulmate here, that’s all.” Hyunjin said. “When is time gonna start working again?” She asked, looking at her frozen classmates with curiosity. That question caught Heejin for surprise.

“When we fall in love with the other.” Heejin said. Her initial enthusiasm had faded into an awkward kind of embarrassment. “You don’t know how this works?” Heejin asked. She was pretty sure this was something that was explained by everyone’s parents when their kids turned fourteen (which was the youngest age in which you could find your soulmate due to emotional intelligence reasons) and started being more likely to find their soulmate, so they didn’t freak out and whatnot when they noticed only them and other person weren’t frozen.

“Uh, no. I just knew something about time stopping and that’s it. Is that weird or something?” Hyunjin asked. Heejin started playing with her hands. The whole romantic meeting she had dreamed about wasn’t going as expected.

“Not weird, though I hadn’t met anyone who didn’t know about this.” She said.

“I’m dumb.” Hyunjin was avoiding looking into Heejin’s eyes.

“I’m not saying you’re dumb.” Heejin smiled and patted her arm. Hyunjin moved away from her just a little bit; just enough to make Heejin feel bad.

“I’m not saying you’re saying I’m dumb.”

Awkward silence. Heejin wanted earth to swallow her. Again.

“Wanna go do something?” She asked. She was determined to get along with Hyunjin, even if she tried to play it difficult.

“Sure, I guess.” And so they started walking around town. Heejin more or less gave her a tour taking her anywhere she found even mildly interesting, and when she noticed people were still frozen, she showed her the boring places too, and joked to make Hyunjin smile. She didn’t. She seemed to be completely insensitive.

“Is there something wrong?” Heejin asked as they looked at the baseball field, sitting on the bleachers. The sun was setting and if it weren’t for Hyunjin's attitude, it’d be a romantic situation. (That was what Heejin thought, but she wasn’t going to tell Hyunjin because she was her soulmate, in the end, and soulmates didn’t say things like that to the other, never, of course not).

“You already asked that.” Hyunjin said. She still wasn’t looking at her, and Heejin was glad she didn’t since she pouted like a little girl when she said that. The sun made Hyunjin’s profile look like an ancient work of art and the rays of the sun captured something else on her expression. Heejin didn’t know what said expression meant.

“I mean, is there something wrong now? You’re… I don’t know, distant, I guess.” She said. Hyunjin looked into her eyes for the first time after she said that, and that look almost killed Heejin. It was like being stabbed by a pair of eyes.

“Jeon Heejin, soul of my mate, you don’t know me, so you can’t know if I’m being distant or not.” She said. She didn’t sound happy. She sounded somewhat angry but mostly condescending. She was looking at Heejin the way you’d look at a dumb person who can’t understand something simple after it being explained to them tons of times.

“But I want to know you.” Heejin was about to hold her hand when Hyunjin stood up at once. Heejin felt rejected and childish. She didn’t like it.

“Why? Only ‘cause I’m your soulmate? Sorry to break it to you, Jeon Heejin, but soulmates are bullshit.” And she started leaving. Heejin walked behind her. She was starting to feel both mad and sad. Her eyes were starting to get teary— her soulmate didn’t believe in soulmates. It felt like some clichéd kind of clichéd heartbreak.

“Bullshit? Bullshit, really? Then explain this. Please explain to me why people froze when we met. Please do explain why that happened, I’m all ears.” She asked, not minding her voice sounding angry; she was frustrated and wanted Hyunjin to know that. Hyunjin turned around. Her expression was cold as ice. Heejin almost regretted engaging with her. She almost regretted all of the jokes she had told her to make her smile and she regretted giving her a tour around town. But, above all, she regretted wishing to meet her soulmate.

“I have a better question for you— explain why it happened. Why does time stop when you meet your soulmate?” Heejin remained quiet. She had been caught off-guard and didn’t know how to answer that question. Hyunjin raised her eyebrows. “I thought so.” And she left. Heejin almost said ‘You don’t know where you’ll go’ but decided to remain quiet. She’d go home, she lived there, after all.

Heejin kicked the bleachers. It hurt like hell but it was worth it. She was more than upset, more than angry; things couldn’t be going any worse. How come that prick was her soulmate? She wished soulmates didn’t exist and that everyone else faded away— or just her. Heejin felt miserable not only because the person who was supposed to be her other half was being an asshole, but because of the way she had treated her. She had felt ridiculed by the look in Hyunjin’s eyes. It was that type of look that calls you more than dumb, that type of look that makes you feel inadequate, out of place and miserable. She hated when people looked at her like that, and was quite impressed because her soulmate could nail it so well.

She cried her way home. She entered her house and lied on her bed. It was eight but she felt too sad to do anything else and decided to sleep. It didn’t take much time for her to do so, and she was grateful. She didn’t want Kim Hyunjin to be on her mind any longer.

 

* * *

 

After a dreamless night Jeon Heejin woke up. It was ten when she did so. She didn’t expect to sleep so much and was thankful she hadn’t slept much the night before. She wanted to sleep all this experience away.

After eating fruit for breakfast she decided to take a walk. She wouldn’t lie, she wanted to run onto Hyunjin. She wanted to see her reaction and maybe say something spiteful to avenge herself. She exited her house and started walking around town. One way or another she’d have to encounter her asshole of a soulmate.

But when she ran onto her she couldn’t believe her eyes. Kim Hyunjin was meowing. She was meowing to a frozen cat. She was petting it softly and meowing to it as if to wake it up. Heejin thought she was cute and for a second she forgot to be angry at her.

“I know you’re there.” Kim Hyunjin suddenly said. Heejin flinched. Her voice took her off-guard.

“You were meowing.” Heejin said, her tone of voice sounding like she was telling Hyunjin what she was doing.

“So what?” Hyunjin wasn’t looking at her and kept petting the cat.

“It’s cute, don’t take everything so personally. I’m not trying to attack you or anything.” Heejin said, sitting on the grass next to her. She didn’t expect Hyunjin to look at her, and she didn’t. She remained the same, facing the cat.

“I don’t take things personally.” She said after a while. Heejin couldn’t help but giggle.

“Yesterday you almost kicked my ass because I said I wanted to know you better.” Heejin said. She felt like they were getting somewhere. And she didn’t care if it was somewhere bad or somewhere good. At least they were getting somewhere.

“Hey, don’t paint me as the mean one. You were also— I mean, I was— nevermind. You made me feel nervous, I guess.” Heejin smiled. Hyunjin’s face was a little bit less expressionless, but Heejin still couldn’t tell what she was feeling.

“Then I guess you must like me a bit.” She said. She wasn’t thinking about what she was saying now. She just said what came to her mind.

“Not in the slightest, let me tell you.” Hyunjin smiled. Heejin’s smile turned bigger.

They remained silent and there was something melancholic about it. Heejin felt like everything was more vivid now that people were frozen and she could only interact with Hyunjin. She felt as if colors were to be touched and as if clouds were too near the floor for Hyunjin and her to still be on earth. Like they were up in the sky or something like that. The air also felt cleaner. The sky seemed bluer. Things looked happy like that.

“What’s your favorite color?” Heejin asked all of a sudden.

“None.” Hyunjin said. “Yours?” And Heejin didn’t care about her rather short answer because she had asked her something back— she had showed interest on getting to know Heejin.

“Pink.” Heejin said.

“Of course you’d like pink.” Hyunjin said.

“Should I take that as a compliment or insult?” Heejin asked. Hyunjin looked at her for the first time that day. Her eyes shined. They didn’t do that before.

“Your problem.” She said, and started running. She’s spontaneous, Heejin thought. And I will follow her because of that. And so she did. And after a good ten minutes running, they were near the river. Hyunjin was sitting on the edge of it. She was looking at the small fish that lived there like a cat, and Heejin thought she was cute.

“I’ll take it as a compliment.” She said, trying to not sound exhausted. Hyunjin looked at the forest that started before them like it was a TV screen.

“Okay.” She said. Then, she frowned. Heejin wanted to ask wrong but she felt like it was none of her business. She closed her eyes and lied over the grass. She took a deep breath. The air smelt like summer.

Then, she felt a bark.

She sat down and looked everywhere. Hyunjin was lying with her eyes closed next to her.

“Did you hear that, Hyunjin?” Heejin asked. Hyunjin didn’t open her eyes but she shook her head.

“Nope.” She said.

“A dog barked.”

“That’s impossible. Time stopped.” Hyunjin moved over her side. Heejin felt nervous. Did time start again?

“Then we must be getting along!” She said. She was about to hug Hyunjin when she heard the same dog bark again. Then, she noticed it wasn’t a dog. Her soulmate. It was her soulmate the one that was barking. “I think I hate you.” Heejin said, hugging her legs and wanting out of the soulmate thing again.

“I think we feel the same.” Hyunjin said.

“Why are you so determined to make this not work out?” Heejin asked. Hyunjin looked at her.

“Hey, hey. Stop that. You asked me what’s my favorite color before this— don’t ask such a difficult question all of a sudden. Let’s escalate slowly, shall we?” And so they started asking the other questions. Meanwhile Heejin’s questions were ones such as ‘what’s your favorite movie?’ and ‘what’s your favorite season?’ Hyunjin’s were a bit more like ‘if you could be a type of food, which one would you be?’ or ‘if you invented your own language and could only speak that one for the rest of your life you’d feel lonely, right?’. Still, it was fun. They were near the river until they were too hungry to go on. Hyunjin didn’t want to have lunch with Heejin, but said they could hang out later. Heejin was happy because Hyunjin had that idea, which meant she was starting to like her, or at least wanted to be with her.

It took her twelve days to know the other inside and out. They gradually started spending more and more time together and it didn’t take long until they started being inseparable. They went biking, they watched VHSs using Heejin’s VCR, the one Kahei had gifted her. They made the other feel cozy and cooked crazy breakfasts together. Hyunjin dressed up and acted dumb to make Heejin laugh until she cried and Heejin liked to draw Hyunjin when the sun was setting because she looked the prettiest then, or so she thought. They sang songs together and taught the other how to live. They held each other’s hand and it felt like they fitted perfectly. Their smiles hadn’t ever been so honest before time stopped. Still, there was something that was off and people were still frozen. But on the twelfth day, that wall was torn to pieces.

They were near the river. It had turned into their special spot. Heejin loved it and they were lying on the grass with their eyes closed like the first time they went there. But suddenly, Hyunjin started talking.

“My parents said they were soulmates, but they weren’t. Mom lied to dad to look… To look good. They both came from rich and elegant and fancy families, and mom wanted them to be together to be two times richer, two times more elegant and two times fancier. She pretended time had stopped for only a few seconds or some shit like that and dad, who’s pretty much as intelligent as a rock, believed her. They had kids and well, that was a mistake. They were two times richer but also ten times more miserable. After I was born it didn’t take them long to get divorced and mom ran away with some guy that she said was her actual soulmate. I don’t remember her face nor her voice and dad always said it was my fault she left, which made no sense but whatever or I don’t know, actually. Maybe it is my fault she lied to him and broke his heart. Anyways, that soulmate stuff made my life worse by  making us being left alone with dad, who was an asshole who wouldn’t let my brothers and I do anything and treated us like garbage or worse. He wouldn’t let us know anything about soulmates out of spite either, so that’s why I only knew so little about them. Then, five days ago, it was his turn to leave. Like, all of a sudden, too. Seems like they had something in common with mom. My brothers and I came to live here so nobody knew us, because in our town everyone knew we were the offsprings of the stupidest people ever. I’m happy with my brothers, but… But soulmates kind of ruined some lives that could’ve been better. You get it? That’s why… That’s why I said it was bullshit. I was just so angry.” Heejin felt Hyunjin’s voice crack but didn’t open her eyes because she knew Hyunjin would want her to let her finish before saying or doing anything. “Didn’t want to make you feel bad, okay? I’ve gotten to know you lately, and you’re kind of an angel, right? God, that’s sappy. I get all fluffy when I’m with you. Ugh. I wanna stop saying this corny stuff but can’t. That’s kind of the feeling you make me feel. Like I can be happy someday. Will you make me happy, Heejin? I promise I’ll try my best, even if I’m kind of a weirdo. I won’t stop being a weirdo, though. But I’ll try my best to make you smile lots, just like you make me do.”

Heejin opened her eyes. She had never heard Hyunjin say something like that and she knew she wouldn’t hear her say something of that nature again. In the end, Hyunjin didn’t like sappy. But she liked her. She Heejin was happy and her heart was racing like insane.

“My favorite color is yellow, Jeon Heejin. It’s yellow ‘cause it reminds me of the sun, and the sun reminds me of your pretty smile, and your pretty smile reminds me of your pretty heart. And that’s what I like the most out of everything and everyone and yeah. Don’t make me get sappy again, okay?”

And even though Heejin had so many things to say, and even though she wanted to hug her and tell her everything was okay and that she wanted to make her smile forever, she kissed her. And it only took a second for time to go on.

 

* * *

 

“Who’s that?” Chaewon asked, glaring at Hyunjin.

“New girl.” Heejin said. Hyunjin looked at her and a smile made its way to Heejin’s face. They waved to the other. The dream was over and reality was back at it again.

“You know her?” Chaewon asked.

“Not yet.”


	2. don’t feed the birds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jinsol is blind a jungeun a panic gay. also, jiwoo is cupid.

         Jungeun didn’t have a soulmate. It was terribly obvious— she knew and all people around her knew, and even though Jiwoo wanted to convince her otherwise, swearing her soulmate was somewhere in the world, Jungeun wouldn’t think otherwise. Thing is her dreams were always black. Just that. Plain black empty darkness. And in a reality in which you share your soulmate’s dreams when you’re both asleep and see through their eyes when you’re asleep and they’re awake, dreaming nothing meant no soulmate. And even if Jungeun was a rare case, everyone agreed on something: her having a soulmate was absolutely impossible.

         But she was used to it. She has stopped caring when she was ten or so; after all, all her life had been like that. She had gotten so used to the idea of not having a soulmate she learned to not mind it at all. Still, Jiwoo of course had chipped in saying things such as ‘you can go live with Sooyoung and I now that college is over! It’ll be like a sleepover but for forever!’, but she didn’t want to. She had started working and could pay her own rent, plus she didn’t want to mind the lovey-doviest pair of soulmates she had ever met.

         But even though she didn’t mind having no soulmate, her heart still ached a bit when she was confronted but that fact. Sometimes she’d want to hold someone’s hand, sometimes she’d want someone to care about her in that special way soulmates did. Sometimes, when she entered her small apartment, she wished she could say ‘I’m home’ and someone would answer. She felt alone, sometimes. She tried not to, but it was hard. Because even if she didn’t mind at all, her subconscious minded still.

         And sometimes, a tiny, small part of her dreamed to have a soulmate. Which was funny, since her dreams were the ones telling her she didn’t have one.

         Yet one day, she met Jinsol.

         It was a cold Sunday when she did. She was at the park drinking coffee, waiting for Jiwoo to show up. They were going to hang out since they hadn’t seen the other for a week, which in Jiwoo time translated to more or less ten years. She saw Jinsol feeding the birds, even if there was a huge sign saying that it was prohibited. She walked where she was. Jungeun had always been a rule-follower, not because she was a prick but because she knew most rules had reasons. Specially this one. Birds shouldn’t eat human food. Human food is for humans and can harm animals, or so her parents had taught her. So she walked towards Jinsol to educate her or something like that.

         “Hey, excuse me? You can’t feed the birds.” She patted Jinsol’s arm. Jinsol looked at her. She was wearing dark shades despite no sun being visible due to the clouds. And before Jungeun could realize why by herself, Jinsol answered.

         “Uh, sorry. Could you please say that again? I’m blind.”

         And Jungeun was kind of left speechless.

         “You’re blind? Don’t you mean deaf?” She asked. “Wait. You aren’t deaf.” She corrected herself.

         “I said I’m blind. That’s why I couldn’t hear you very well. What did you say?” Jinsol didn’t seem to get Jungeun’s point and she was starting to get nervous due to her confusion. She understood what Jinsol was saying just as much as Jinsol understood her, and she didn’t like that feeling. It was kind of new but not really. It was like she knew it from somewhere. And that feeling of uneasiness is the one she disliked the most.

         “But being blind has nothing to do with hearing. I’m very sorry, but I’m not getting what you mean.” Jungeun said. She had never been someone patient, and even though Jiwoo had trained her well in which meant to start becoming more patient, she was still a bit irritable. “Just don’t feed the birds.”

         “How many birds are there?” Jinsol asked. Jungeun frowned but didn’t seem to find anything wrong in answering, so she did.

         “Ten.” Jungeun said after counting them (twice to prevent any mistakes).

         “Oh. Thanks.” Jinsol looked to where she had been throwing little pieces of bread and said: “Hi, ten birds.”

         “Jungeun!” Suddenly, Jiwoo’s voice became almost palpable in the air. “Jungeun-ah, I’m here!” And Jungeun sighed and smiled and turned around. Jiwoo’s voice always managed to calm her down, somehow.

         And before Jungeun could say hi, Jiwoo had already ran there full-speed and was looking at Jinsol.

         “I’m Jiwoo, Jungeun’s friend! Who are you?” She asked. Jungeun sighed again but not in a good way this time. She knew why Jiwoo had done that (she just loved to make new friends and spread love all around the world) but she just. Ugh. That was how she was feeling. A mix between ugh and I-want-to-go-have-a-good-time-with-you-right-now-so-let’s-leave. As specific as that feeling was.

         “I’m blind.” Was all Jinsol said. Jungeun just face palmed. She knew Jinsol was kidding, but god was she frustrating.

         “Well hello blind!” Jiwoo smiled at her. Then they started laughing and made Jungeun question if everyone was trying to confuse her that day, because if not, there wasn’t any other explanation. As Jiwoo realized her best friend was that much of a confused mess, she started explaining the situation: “We know each other from before. Right, Jinsol?” She asked.     

         “Yup.”

         “And how…? I mean, why…?” Jungeun was interrupted by her sunny best friend.

         “You know how Sooyoung is friends with Haseul, right?” Jungeun nodded. She had met Haseul one or two times. She was nice. “Well, Haseul is friends with Yeojin, who’s friends with Yerim, who’s friends with Jinsol. We met like, a week ago?” And meanwhile Jungeun was still trying to process what her best friend had said Jinsol had started talking.

         “I’d say so, yes.” She said. “And nice to meet you, Jungeun.” And then  
Jiwoo said the phrase that would change Jungeun’s life forever.

         “She’s your soulmate!”

         And everything broke down to pieces.

 

* * *

 

         “What do you mean she’s my soulmate?!”

         Jungeun and Jiwoo were in a near 24/7 store and Jungeun had made up an excuse for them to leave Jinsol outside to interrogate her best friend over what she had said. They were in the furthest end of that store and Jungeun was whispering-screaming.

         “I mean it as in she’s your soulmate.” Jiwoo stated, as if it was obvious. Then she started looking at the slime the store sold and didn’t keep talking. Jungeun sighed.

         “I mean, how do you know that?! You know very well that I don’t have a soulmate.” She said, emphasizing the ‘very well’. Jiwoo looked at her and her eyes were shining as much as ever, just like her smile.

         “That’s the best part! When we met and she said she was blind, something just clicked inside of me, and I couldn’t tell why. Then, as I kept talking to her, I was so, so sure she was made for you. I was already thinking about making you two meet, actually, ‘cause like, you two match so well I can’t even—” Jungeun gave Jiwoo one of her famous ‘please don’t ramble’ looks and Jiwoo giggled as response. “Anyways, thing is that then I thought, well, Jinsol's blind, and Jungeun's dreams are all black. And everything made sense. You can’t see anything when you dream because Jinsol can’t see anything either! And so I arranged this!”

         “So this was never about us two meeting.” Was all Jungeun could say. That was the only bit of information she could correctly and maybe even calmly grasp, though her voice sounded shaky and she felt like fainting.

         “Uh, no. I mean, I wanted to see you, of course I wanted to see you! You’re my best friend, Jungeun-ah, don’t be dumb! But I also wanted you to meet Jinsol, specially since I’ve noticed you’re so blue when soulmates are around you. I know you feel sad ‘cause you thought you had no soulmate, so don’t try to lie to me. But good thing is you have now! Now, let’s go—” But Jungeun took Jiwoo by her sleeve.

         “I am not going anywhere. I will leave and this is over and that’s it.”

         “But Jinsol is—”

         “I don’t care about Jinsol, Jiwoo, because you know very well that I don’t have a soulmate. The fact that that woman is blind doesn’t mean anything. I’m leaving.” She said, and started walking to the door in a fast pace. She left Jiwoo near the ice-cream section with her mouth wide open and didn’t look back. She didn’t even see Jinsol on her way out. She was too worried thinking and her mind was truly racing. She didn’t have a soulmate, and she didn’t care about anything else. She didn’t want to; she never wanted to.

 

* * *

 

         The next day someone knocked her door at eight AM. Jungeun didn’t have to open to know it was Jiwoo; only one person knocked with that kind of rhythm. She opened the door, still wearing pajamas. When she opened, she blankly stated: ‘Go away, let me sleep one hour more and I’ll open and tell you I don’t want to meet that Jinsol girl ever’.

         But it wasn’t Jiwoo. It was Jinsol.

         “Ever, really?” She was frowning. “You didn’t even get to tell me your favorite holiday.” Jinsol sounded sad and Jungeun’s heart dropped dead. She had too many questions to even start asking her and was going to panic. She closed the door and the clearest one came to her mind almost instantly.

         What was she doing there?

         Realizing she couldn’t answer it unless she asked, she took a few deep breaths and opened the door again. Jinsol was still there, with the same expression on her face. She kind of looked like a statue for a second, in Jungeun’s eyes.

         “If you want, I can come later. Jiwoo said this was a good time, though.” She said. She didn’t sound like she minded Jungeun’s attitude and was still acting natural. Jungeun appreciated that because she would’ve felt too embarrassed if it wasn’t the case.

         “It’s okay.” Jungeun managed to say. “Just… come in if you want.” She wasn’t going to say sorry about being in her pajamas because Jinsol couldn’t know. She was going to help her walk in but Jinsol managed to sit on the couch just fine. She didn’t seem like she needed any help and Jungeun was impressed. She had to be honest: she didn’t know much about how it was to be blind since Jinsol was the first blind person she had ever met.

         “So…?” Jungeun started, sitting on a wooden chair in front of her. Jinsol sighed but she was smiling. It was a calming smile and Jungeun wondered if she realized how good it felt to see her do so.

         “First of all, sorry for yesterday. I don’t know how you must’ve felt but it most likely wasn’t good. Secondly, we don’t need to meet if you don’t want to. Third, sorry for coming in so early. Fourth, sorry for feeding the birds.” And the last declarations left Jungeun thinking she was cute. So very cute or something like that. She felt sorry for saying she didn’t care about her the precious day, because now a part of her wanted to do so.

         “It’s okay, you didn’t know. I mean, the bird thing. And, well, about my feelings too. And I also have to say sorry. I mean, I shouldn’t have ran away like that but I was just so—” She stopped talking. Kim Jungeun wasn’t any good when it came to talking about feelings and hated excuses. “Sorry, okay?” She looked down. Jinsol laid back on the couch like it was hers and Jungeun didn’t mind because she liked to see Jinsol like that. For no reason, for no reason. There was no reason to feel like that, Jungeun tried to convince herself. No reason at all, honestly. It wasn’t like Jiwoo was right. Again.

         “It’s okay to not talk about your feelings if you don’t feel like it, but don’t bottle everything up, promise? It’ll make you fall sick. I met a girl that bottled all her feelings up and then— boom!” She spread her arms and legs and kind of dropped dead on the couch. “She went just like that.” She said, and chuckled. Jungeun thought that it was cute how she had her very own expressions and laughed at her own antics, but another part of her was still feeling confused.

         “Are you acting so nice only because Jiwoo said we’re soulmates?” Jungeun asked, half-joking, half-upset. Upset for no reason. Yeah. No reason.

         “Not really. I’m being nice ‘cause you sound nice. Is it okay?” Jungeun’s heart dropped. Only two people had called her nice in all her life: Jiwoo when they met at age four or five, and Jinsol. She had always been described as correct, polite, charming and overall someone fun to be around. But never nice. And she liked that word. Nice.

         “Yeah, it is.” Jungeun said. Her words were slow and her pace careful. “Want something to drink, something to eat?” She added in a rush, a big contrast compared to her previous tone.

         “It’s okay. If you want, go change.” And Jinsol must’ve felt Jungeun frowning because she added: “You’re still wearing your pajamas, right?” Jungeun nodded. Then, she added a rushed ‘yes’, remembering Jinsol couldn’t see her nod.

         “How did you know?” Jungeun asked.

         “I just… had a feeling about it.” Jinsol said. “Are you gonna change? Tell me, so I cover my eyes.”

 

* * *

 

         It was different from what Jungeun had expected. Jinsol was the most intelligent yet silliest person she had ever met and she liked her lots. They liked to go to the aquarium and Jinsol described what she thought some fish looked like as Jungeun said their names just to make her laugh, even if she knew how they actually looked like. They liked to sit under the stars because Jinsol said she liked how moonlight made her feel. They went to the cinema and, when there was no one else in the theater, Jinsol tried to make Chinese shadows. They looked like nothing but Jungeun enjoyed to see how her imagination worked like. Jinsol had a world of her own and Jungeun was happy she had let her in.

         “So, how is it going with Jinsol?” Jiwoo asked three weeks after the bird eating accident.

         “Uh, okay I guess.” Jungeun took a sip from her tea. It was awful and she cringed. “You like gossiping too much.”

         “It’s not gossiping! It’s just that three weeks ago —exactly three weeks ago!— you almost killed me because I said Jinsol was your soulmate, and you started saying you’d never have a soulmate and that it was all fake and blah blah blah.” Jungeun frowned and Jiwoo did, too. “You do sound like that!” She said. Then, she added: “I heard from someone that you’ve been seeing each other a lot lately. Are you two, you know…?” She made a heart with her hands and kissing like motions. Jungeun sighed.

         “It was Yeojin, right?” Jungeun asked. Jiwoo’s face was all she needed as an answer. “Yes, we’ve been seeing each other lately, but because you sent her to my apartment that one day at like eight in the morning.”

         “I didn’t send Jinsol to your apartment.” Jiwoo said.

         “You did. She said you said that at that hour I was… Jinsol…” Jungeun sounded like an evil cartoon character muttering their nemesis’ name. “That girl, oh my god…” She knew Jinsol liked to wake up earlier than most people the only days people liked to sleep a bit more (she woke up at ten during the week and six during weekends), but had never considered she’d do something like that.

         “She went to your apartment? Then I guess that must’ve been the day she asked for you address and said you’d talk things out. I was going to call you later that day but as Jinsol said you two were hanging out I supposed everything was alright.” Jiwoo looked at flustered Jungeun. “You talked things through that one time, right?”

         “I guess. She said sorry for you and I said sorry for running away and all that.” Jungeun sighed. ‘And she started making me—‘

         “So, spill it.” Jiwoo smiled and nudged her arm. “What’re you two up to?”

         Just deciding how it feels to have a soulmate, Jungeun thought. Then, she smiled.

         “Nothing. We’re just— we’re just us two. And honestly, that’s enough.”

        

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope yall like this. i'm loving writing this anthology. remember to support ot12 and i'll see u around. remember to smile o7


	3. someone you can be proud of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chuuves au in which you share your soulmate's wounds

         Jiwoo was worried. It was the third time she woke up covered in bruises and scratches that month, and this time the bruises were darker and scratches deeper. It wasn’t as bad as that one time she woke up with a broken leg, and it didn’t hurt, but it still worried her. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and pouted. She had a huge, black, duck-shaped bruise in the middle of her forehead. What a way to start the week, huh. Even though she thought ducklings were cute, she wished she didn’t have that giant bruise on her face. She sighed.

         “Ah, soulmate. Can’t you stop fighting for once?” She said, as she started putting some make-up on to cover the most obvious wounds on her face, though people who knew her were used to Jiwoo being harmed; her soulmate seemed to be a fighter or whatever. Jiwoo didn’t really like that, not because she was covered in bruises on daily basis, but because she wanted her soulmate to be safe for once. What if her soulmate was being bullied? She wished she could kick their bullies’ ass and, well, meet her soulmate and all of that. Every time she started daydreaming like that Jungeun stopped her saying something in the lines of ‘don’t wonder so much, maybe your soulmate will be a disappointment’, but Jiwoo was sure Jungeun knew just about nothing about everything, so she didn’t listen to her and kept looking at the sky and wondering where her soulmate was.

         One day Jungeun didn’t go to school so Jiwoo was making her way to her place to keep her company and give her their assignments as she always did, but something was different from the other times. There was a girl coughing blood in an alley, screaming things like ‘I’m gonna kill you!’ and ‘You can’t hide from me!’. Jiwoo saw her and worriedness filled her body. She instantly went where that girl was.

         “Hey, hey! You okay?” She asked. She offered her help to stand up, but she coughed again and shook her head.

         “I need to kill ‘em.” She said, or that was what Jiwoo supposed she was saying, since she was muttering, had bitten her tongue (which explained the blood she coughed every now and again) and/or just didn’t bother to speak clearly. “Gotta kick their asses.” She said. Jiwoo sighed as if to say ‘you’re so silly’. She was acting rather nonchalant considering the situation she was in, but she had always been taught that when someone was hurt, the last thing you had to do was freak out. So she kept her arm extended.

         “Come with me, I’ll help you.” And the girl, after hesitating, took her hand. The girl’s hand was warm and covered Jiwoo’s with bright red blood. She passed the girl’s arm around her neck and helped her walk towards Jungeun’s place. The girl said nothing and her breath was harsh and messy. Jiwoo preferred to remain quiet and just pay attention to being gentle. The girl wanted to act like she wasn’t, but she was weak and needed help. Then, Jiwoo had an idea.

         “Want to go to the hospital? I have no problem in taking you—” But the look the girl gave her was enough to make Jiwoo shut up. Jiwoo wondered why she didn’t want to go to the hospital (she was kind of afraid to ask) and the thought of the girl being afraid of needles or something like that made her face be brighter. She would’ve giggled if it weren’t for her somber companion.

         When they arrived to the building, Jiwoo dialed Jungeun's number as they entered the elevator. The girl closed her eyes and lied against the glass wall. One of her eyes (the right one) was starting to get swollen and her lips were doing the same. Her knuckles were destroyed and the blood had dried. Still, she looked weirdly calm. Jiwoo couldn’t help but stare. The girl made her feel curious, she wouldn’t lie. She was like a character taken from a forgotten blockbuster from the seventies.

         “Jungeun-ah, hi!” Jiwoo said when Jungeun finally answered, waking up from her trance. She heard Jungeun sigh. She could just about picture the exact expression Jungeun had in that mere instant.

         “What did you do now?” She asked. Jiwoo hardly ever called her all of a sudden, so of course Jungeun was suspicious. Jiwoo couldn’t blame her— she would’ve answered the same way (with a nicer tone of voice, still) if Jungeun had called her like that.

         “Uh, nothing. I mean, I did nothing. The girl that’s coming with me, though…” Jungeun interrupted her.

         “The girl who’s coming with you?” Jungeun whispered over the phone, like she was hearing some sort of secret. Jiwoo smiled awkwardly even though Jungeun couldn’t see her. “Who’s coming with you, Jiwoo?”

         “A…” She glared at the girl, who now was kind of about to pass out. “A friend. Yeah. A friend of mine.” She said, not sounding convincing at all. She heard Jungeun sigh again (sometimes Jiwoo thought that if there was a sighing competition, they wouldn’t let Jungeun in because the judges wouldn’t allow professionals). But, again, she understood her— she would have sighed too if she’d heard someone sound that unconvincing when lying. She was kind of a bad liar and was both happy and not-so-happy because of that.

         “What’s her name?” Jungeun asked. She waited for exactly three seconds and then added: “I thought so. I’ll let her in just because I trust your hunches, alright? But my house isn’t a clubhouse, alright?” And she hung up. Jiwoo looked at her phone and smiled. ‘It could have been way, way worse,’ she thought. ‘Way worse’.

         She lead the girl to Jungeun’s apartment and knocked. Jungeun, who was wearing a robe (‘what a nerd’, Jiwoo thought) opened almost instantly and almost screamed at the sight of Jiwoo’s rather bloody friend. Jiwoo wondered if she was about to pass out, too. Jungeun didn’t like blood and it showed.

         “Do you… Uh…” Jungeun let them in after vacillating. “Want to use the bathroom?” She asked, looking up and down at the girl Jiwoo had brought in and pointing to the hall where the bathroom was.

         “Sure, I guess.” The girl said, walking down the hall. Her voice was low and husky. Jungeun was about to tell her which door it was when she guessed and entered. Weird.

         “Where the hell did you find that girl?!” Jungeun asked. “And what happened to her? Maybe we’ll have to take her to the—” Jiwoo interrupted her.

         “Taking her to the hospital is a big, huge no-no. She looked at me like she wanted to kill me when I said that, I don’t know why. So I said I could bring her here ‘cause like, she’s all bloody and stuff and she probably has to disinfect some of her wounds, and—” Now Jungeun interrupted her.

         “And you’re so good-hearted you couldn’t leave her behind, right?” She was smiling and Jiwoo sighed and nodded. “I figured. It’s okay. But you’re too good, Jiwoo. Too good for your own good.” And Jiwoo almost replied what she always said when Jungeun said that— ‘Why is too good bad?’. But she didn’t feel like fighting and just wanted to love her best friend.

         They talked a bit and Jiwoo gave Jungeun the assignments for the day. Jungeun had stayed home because her head had been hurting all weekend plus that day, but predicted she’d be back at school the day after tomorrow, if not tomorrow. Then, the girl exited the bathroom. She had no visible blood now (but the stains on her clothes were there still), though her eye was completely swollen now. She threw Jungeun a blood-covered towel.

         “Thank you, hon. And thank you, too.” She looked at Jiwoo. She took a red apple from the fruit platter, bit it, and then left it there, bitten. “See you two around.” And she exited just like that. Jiwoo couldn’t believe it and Jungeun had her mouth wide open.

         “She’s kinda mean, isn’t she?” Jiwoo said. “Jungeun-ah? What’s wrong?” She asked. Jungeun wouldn’t stop staring at her like she had something weird and/or dangerous on her face.

         “Just… Just go to the bathroom, will you?” And so Jiwoo did. And when she looked at her reflection, she could see her clearly swollen eye and her lips weren’t any better. She took her gloves off. Her knuckles were destroyed. So she screamed.

 

* * *

 

It took her five weeks for them to run by again. It was at a park, a Sunday morning. Jiwoo was taking one of her spontaneous Sunday morning walks and ran into her. She was sleeping on a bench. She almost screamed when she saw her because she hadn’t expected to. After recovering from the surprise, she decided to wake her up.

“Hey, hey.” Jiwoo shook her. She wasn’t afraid to wake her up. They were soulmates, after all. They were supposed to be nice to each other and all that jazz. “Wakey wakey.” She said.

“What the— who’re you?” She asked. She rubbed her eyes like a cartoon character and frowned. “I think I know you.” She said. Jiwoo sat next to her and smiled.

“Yeah! I was the one that helped you a month ago, remember? When you were bloody and all that stuff.” Jiwoo said. “I’m glad to see you again.” The girl’s frown turned more confused.

“I… thank you, I guess? I’m leaving right now. So you have this baby—” She patted the bench as she stood up. “All for yourself.” But Jiwoo took her hand.

“Hey, don’t leave! I didn’t wake you up because I wanted this bench or whatever. I woke you up ‘cause… we’re soulmates!” Jiwoo had rehearsed that line tons of times but this time she just sounded plain excited and happy. She had tried to add tons of other feelings to her words, such as coolness or being casual about it. But she couldn’t contain her excitement.

“Uh, you’ve got the wrong person, girl. Sorry about that.” But Jiwoo held her hand tight. The girl’s eyes looked impressed and she was raising her eyebrows. She hadn’t expected Jiwoo to be react like that.

“I mean it, really! Look!” She let go of her hand and showed her her upper arm. She had an ‘s’ shaped scratch. Then, she pointed at the girl’s arm. “You’ve got it, too! And that day, when I helped you, my eye was all bruised too after you left, and my lips swollen and my knuckles all wounded. We are soulmates!” She hugged her. The girl didn’t hug her back. Jiwoo couldn’t care less. “I’m so happy I found you.”

Jiwoo treated her breakfast at a near coffee place. Sooyoung (now she knew her name) ate like there was no tomorrow and Jiwoo was happy that she also had a good appetite. Then, they could go to food-tasting dates and things like that. She was so excited she didn’t care if Sooyoung still looked at her like she was weirdo, because she believed everyone had some good inside of them.

“So,” Sooyoung had her mouth full of bread. “You think we’re soulmates.” She said. Jiwoo nodded.

“Yup!”

“Why’s that?” Sooyoung took a sip from her coffee. Jiwoo took a sip from hers and almost spit it. It was too bitter.

“I already told you! We have the same body marks. Every time you get hurt I get hurt too, though the wounds I have when you get hurt don’t ache.” Then, she pouted. “You always made me feel so worried, dummy! Sometimes I woke up all beat up and worried sick about you! Why do you fight so much?”

“I see.” Sooyoung said. She looked at Jiwoo like you’d look at someone who’s at a job interview. Jiwoo felt like her eyes saw through her, but she didn’t want to stop making eye contact. She wanted to know why she was always fighting. “I, uh… I’m kind of like a body guard, I guess? I protect people from mean guys.” She said. Jiwoo noted she had said ‘mean guys’ instead of other more offensive words on purpose. She thanked that.

“So you’re like a superhero? But not super. I mean, a super-good hero!” Jiwoo was excited. Her soulmate was someone who fought for what was right, someone who wished for justice and peace. She didn’t approve the use of violence, yet she was happy still. She could picture Sooyoung saving cats from trees, old lads from speeding trucks, kids from bullies. Her eyes shined at those thoughts. Sooyoung could be mean, yes, but she was probably cold due to the nature of her hero-antics.

“I guess.” Was Sooyoung’s dry answer. She took a sip from her coffee. “So, what kind of things do soulmates do?” She asked. Jiwoo was taken for surprise due to the sudden change of topic.

“Well, they always have each other’s back. They always, always, love the other and all that, and they even kiss and go on dates and sometimes marry the other, and they watch movies in the night and cuddle, and stay in pajamas all day, and all that stuff, you know?” Jiwoo cleared her throat. She started to sound like she was daydreaming (which she was). “I mean, you didn’t know?”

“I did. I just wanted to hear you say it.” Sooyoung started chuckling. Jiwoo blushed. She had gotten her good. “Let’s go on a date, then. Let’s go bird watching, huh? How does that sound?” And Jiwoo smiled. It sounded beautiful.

And their relationship grew like that. They went on dates and Jiwoo discovered that under the wounded girl she met lived a huge dork who was always up to playing around and using corny nicknames. Sooyoung was like a puppy, sometimes, and she could be even clingier than Jiwoo. Sometimes she’d hug her so tight Jiwoo would think she was going to drown her with love. Jiwoo felt all soft around her and after a month she was head over heels for her. She was cool and sweet and good and she made her really happy, so happy her heart raced when thinking about her. Even Jungeun liked her a little, which was a lot to say considering the first impression Sooyoung had left.

Everything was bright until Jiwoo discovered how come Sooyoung was always bruised; the true reason why she was always bruised. Jiwoo had stopped caring about it ever since they started going on dates— the fact that when they first met Sooyoung had stated more than one time that she was going to kill some people over something. Which wasn’t good, like, ever. And of course she believed her when she told her she helped other people when fighting— why wouldn’t she? Of course Jiwoo believed her girlfriend didn’t fight to steal or fun and didn’t blackmail and wasn’t a gang leader. Of course she believed her girlfriend was a good person. There was no reason for her to believe otherwise, plus she had stopped fighting as much ever since they started going out.

         She didn’t want to remember the day she found Sooyoung fighting for some reason she didn’t want to know, and she had never wanted to know the details of her criminal life either because she had stated several times that no violence is justified. She only asked one thing, that day. They were in a place hidden and dark, but not too much. They were in a place which seemed to make life be black and white.

         ‘Do you fight for a good reason, Sooyoung? Or did you lie to me?’

         Jiwoo’s voice was steady and serious, her voice hoped for a different reality in which her soulmate wasn’t the bad person in all perspectives. Sooyoung eyes shook, but she never stopped looking at her. Her expression was enough of an answer, but as the tears flowed down her face, Jiwoo waited to hear what she wanted to hear. She wanted to believe her soulmate wasn’t a bad person. She wanted to believe that her girlfriend was a superhero who helped people in need. Jiwoo was goodhearted, yes, but she wasn’t dumb. She hated when people thought she was dumb just because she always did the right thing. She hated when people thought they could lie to her only because she liked to give people a chance.

         ‘It’s not a good reason, Jiwoo. I lied to you.’

         Jiwoo hugged her. She hugged her tight and didn’t want to let go. Sooyoung didn’t hug her back until she started to hear Jiwoo sob like crazy. Then, she started sobbing, too. She was a strong girl. Never cried, even when they broke her nose and kicked her face. She never cried, not even when her parents said they wished they didn’t have her (something she told Jiwoo one cold night, at two am. Something she told Jiwoo because she said she trusted her so much). She never cried until now, when her sobs were breaking everything around her.

         ‘Thank you for your honesty.’

         Jiwoo looked at her and cleaned the tears that came down her face. She wasn’t smiling but her face was clear and honest. Then, she left. She didn’t say anything else.

“Am I the bad one?” Jiwoo asked Jungeun. Jungeun shook her head.

         “I don’t know how many more times I’ll have to tell you you haven’t done anything wrong. I mean, she lied to you several times. She lied to you all of the time you’ve been together. She lied about who she was, for god’s sake. I would have kicked her lying ass right there, but you, being the Jiwoo you are, couldn’t do it.”

         “What should I do, now?” She asked. Jungeun sighed.

         “I truly have no idea.”

 

* * *

 

         It took her a while to know about Sooyoung again. All day, every day she thought about her, where she was and what she was doing. She wondered if she preferred her life of crime over her. She cried, sometimes, too, because she woke up covered in bruises again. That until she knew why. She heard the rumors— a girl (the head of an important gang in the city) had decided she didn’t want to be the leader anymore and decided to try and give the people they stole from some of their money back. The other girls from the gang kicked her ass and the people she stole from too. She was in the hospital now, and no one knew if she’d get better. Jiwoo wanted out when she heard that. Sooyoung, she thought. Sooyoung, oh, Sooyoung, what did you do now?

         One day she received a small letter. It was inside her school locker. She opened it. It was Sooyoung’s calligraphy. It was a short and concise message, just like she liked them.

         ‘I’ll wait for you until you can forgive me, and until forever I’ll be someone you can be proud of.’

         Jiwoo clutched the letter in her hand and started running. Someone was waiting for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooo hi everyone i hope you liked this,! i'm really liking writing soulmate aus and well i hope i'm improving? anyways remember to smile and see you o7 peace out!


	4. cranes, doves and fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> au in which if you make a certain ammount of paper cranes, they lead you to your soulmate. if you realize who your soulmate is and don't do that, then you feel some kind of fireworks inside of you. also yeojin is haseul's little sister.

         “I won’t tell anyone, okay? Just tell me how many you’ve folded.” Vivi said. The smile on her face was cheeky and Haseul frowned. She was not going to tell her. So not going to tell her.

         “You wish.” Haseul said, trying to sound as cocky as Yeojin could sound, sometimes. She didn’t and Vivi covered her mouth when chuckling at her response. Haseul was seriously thinking about asking Yeojin to teach her how to be bolder, but she was too embarrassed to do so, even if she knew Yeojin would like the idea.

         “You’re a mean one, Jo Haseul. A very mean one,” Vivi said as she gave her a bag full of colorful origami paper. “I wanna help you out, you know? Lately no one comes here aside from you and your weird friends.” She commented. Haseul wished she could prove her wrong but there was no way— her friends and her were indeed the only people that went to buy things to that small mess of a 24/7 store now. The store that one day was the new thing in town had now become obsolete and abandoned. Haseul was pretty sure it was going to close soon. Vivi had been looking for a new job, she had heard. She felt a bit sad, but tried to ignore that.

         “For maybe like the third time this month, I don’t need any help, thank you very much.” And even though she wasn’t any bolder, she did allow herself to be a bit more playful around Vivi. It made her feel okay to do that— sometimes she wanted to act like the little sister for once, even though her role as an older sister to everyone was something she liked and had gotten used to. “If I don’t fold all the cranes myself, then I won’t meet my soulmate.”

         “How many did you have to fold?” Vivi asked. Haseul looked away, and answered ‘I don’t know’ in an almost too quiet voice. She didn’t like when people asked her that because then they noticed she was as clueless as them, and she didn’t like when people looked at her like that; like she was some pathetic loveless person. It was common knowledge that only desperate people folded cranes, that to finally find their soulmate. Legend said that if you folded a certain number of paper cranes, then they’d fly towards your soulmate. Haseul was one of the people that believed in it. She wasn’t one of them before, but one day, a day she was bored and had nothing else to do, she folded a few cranes. Then it turned into an habit— folding cranes whenever she had time. She wasn’t truly desperate, but she’d be lying if she didn’t accept she was sad because she was still by herself. In a society that valued soulmates more than anything, Haseul felt like she wasn’t good enough.

         “And does it work?” Vivi asked. She had been there since the start, selling Haseul the colored origami papers she used for her cranes. And now the store was closing. Time sure passed just like that, huh. It felt like yesterday when she was a confused seventeen year old who came asking for origami paper for the first time and Vivi was a twenty one year old that asked what the hell she was talking about. Yet this was the first time Vivi directly asked her if she believed in that. She usually just threw a hint or insinuation, but this was the first time she directly inquired about it. Haseul didn’t mind answering, though she didn’t even want to hear her own answers.

         “Honestly, I’m… I’m not sure. But it’s worth a try, isn’t it?” Haseul said, more to reassure herself than anything else. Years had passed. Five years. She had folded more paper cranes than one could count and was still doing so, maybe not out of hope but out of habit. She also was fond of Vivi and their trivial conversations; when she was with her, Haseul felt like she could stop being the perfect girl most people pictured her as. She felt like life wasn’t so hard with her around.

         “I guess. I mean, you buying all of that fancy paper sure has made this place a bit richer, you know?” Vivi said. Haseul faked a laugh, though if she wanted, it could’ve been real. She had gotten used to Vivi’s particular sense of what’s funny and what’s not.

         “Very funny, Vivi.” She cleaned an invisible tear from her eye and took her bag. Then, she looked at the girl. She gave her a small smile. “See you when paper runs out.”

         “Stay out of trouble, Jo.” Vivi said. She said that ever since Haseul told her she was an honor student.

         “I’m gonna say the same, Wong.”

 

* * *

 

         “You’d think that with so many years of practice you’d learn how to properly origami without cutting your fingers with the paper, jeez.” Yeojin said as she handed Haseul a band-aid.

         “Did you just use origami as a verb?” Haseul asked. Then, noticing Yeojin wouldn’t answer, she wrapped the band-aid around her finger, muttering a ‘thanks’. Yeojin was right about something, still: one would think Haseul would be better at folding paper cranes after so many years. But, on her defense, Yeojin was distracting her when she was folding the hardest part. She sighed and finished the crane. It looked like all the other cranes. Just like all the other thousands of cranes. She sighed. She heard Yeojin turn the TV off. She knew exactly what she was going to say. ‘Want me to—?’

         “Want me to hug you? You know I hate it when you’re blue.” And before she could answer, she was already hugging her. Haseul was thankful everyday for the sister she had. Yeojin could read her like the palm of her hand, and even if that sometimes backfired, she thanked it most of the time.

         “During the weekend, will you help me count the cranes?” Haseul asked. Vivi had left her wondering how many she had actually made. A part of her was sure she had made less than she expected, but a smaller part of her was so full of hope she felt embarrassed.

         “Yeah, okay. But please, please remember I can only count to twelve.”

         “How could I forget?”

 

* * *

 

         Haseul wanted to go sleep, but she wasn’t tired anymore. It was three in the morning and college was kicking her ass. She usually didn’t study at that kind of time, but she was especially nervous for this particular exam and couldn’t sleep because of it, which made her decide to study just a bit more. That was at one am. And now, even if she wanted, she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She wasn’t sleepy anymore. Shucks.

         She unlocked and locked her phone constantly. She didn’t know what to do. She had already studied everything several times and didn’t want to wake Yeojin up (even though she was probably still playing something on the PC, probably that weird cubic game she liked so much and took way, way too seriously). She also didn’t want to go make herself a cup of tea or grab something to eat— the last time she did that she accidentally dropped the cup and made a mess. So she was on her bed, lying bored and wide awake, waiting for something to happen.

         So she texted Vivi.

         They didn’t text much, but Haseul knew she was most likely the only person that would answer to her texts at three in the morning since she was pretty sure Vivi didn’t sleep at all (except during her work shifts). So she looked for an excuse— just saying ‘hi, can’t sleep, thought about you’ would be weird, she thought. So she found a cute picture of some puppies and sent it to her. She almost immediately received an answer. Her heart raced (for no reason). She smiled, too (for no reason, really).

         ‘cant sleep, huh.’ (She could hear Vivi’s voice and see her expression when reading that text. It made her feel funny inside).

         ‘Yeah’

         ‘having fun?’

         ‘Not really’

         ‘lmao.’

         Maybe she was busy, Haseul thought. Then another thought popped on her mind—  ‘Busy doing what?’. Maybe she had better things to do than talking to the dorky nerd of a girl that always came to her dying store to buy origami paper every now and then. Which was probably right. She was thinking about all the things Vivi could be doing by that time when she received another text. It was a bunch of links.

         ‘idk if you already searched, but those are some tips for when you cant sleep. you have class tomorrow, don’t you. gotta have energy.’

         Haseul stared at her phone screen. She smiled. Her heart felt kind of warm and she wished she could see Vivi at that moment and say thank you, thank you very much. Because she had given her a solution, and that meant she most likely cared about her (which meant she maybe didn’t see her as the dorky nerd of a girl which came to her dying store to buy origami paper every now and then).

         ‘Thanks! ^^’

         ‘sleep tight.’

         And so Haseul did. When she woke up, she was smiling. She didn’t know why, but she was sure her dreams had been the sweetest.

         “Didn’t think Jo Haseul, honor student and goody-two shoes would text me, a hopeless misfit, at three am in the morning in the middle of the week.” Vivi said just as Haseul walked in. She had nothing to do after class and decided to go buy something aside paper in the store. And maybe talk to Vivi a bit. Maybe.

         “Hello to you too.” She said. “And you aren’t a misfit.” She added. Vivi chuckled.

         “You don’t know what misfit means.” And before Haseul could answer with the definition of the word and begin to explain the reasons why Vivi wasn’t one, she added: “You also don’t know a thing about me.” She was smiling and Haseul thought that it was true. There was something about Vivi’s ways that made her question if she was real or part of a dream. There was something dreamlike about her and Haseul couldn’t put her finger on it because it was like her aura or something of that sort.

         “We’ve known each other for five years, don’t say that.” Haseul said, even if she agreed with Vivi. She was a mystery, everyone knew that. For instance, no one had seen her out of the store, ever. She was always there, be it taking a nap or playing games on her phone, and every now and then, working. But never out of the store. Still, there was something about that that made Haseul feel sad. If the store was going to close, where was Vivi going to be after that? Where were they going to see each other after it did close? She was thinking about those things when Vivi started talking.

         “You’re Jo Haseul. You’ve got a little sister named Yeojin, and she’s five years younger than you. You friends with probably the weirdest group of girls I’ve ever met and are like their mom or something. Your can sing opera and you always brought bad luck to all the school road trips, but only because you’re so nice your classmates didn’t hate you.” Vivi said, staring at her phone screen while scrolling unworriedly. “I could keep going, what about you?”

         “Uh, you’re Wong Vivi. You’re from Hong-Kong and work here, and—” Haseul stopped. Why had Vivi moved to Korea? When she did she study Korean? When was her birthday? Was Vivi her real name, actually? She had too many questions and too little answers. “I give up.” She said. Vivi smiled.

         “Don’t feel bad. It’s not that you’re a bad listener, because considering how many things I’ve told you about me, that’s just about as much as you should know.” She said.

         “Why’re you so secretive? We’re friends, aren’t we?” Haseul asked. Vivi locked her phone and looked at Haseul.

         “We are and because that’s kind of who I am. Mysterious and all. Maybe I disappear after you leave, how could you know?” She said, playfully. Then she realized Haseul wasn’t convinced with her answer and added: “I’m shy.” Haseul giggled.

         “Sure you are. And I’m a pigeon.” Vivi sighed and rolled her eyes, but with a small smile on her face.

         “Are you gonna buy something or just make fun of me?” Haseul frowned and pouted just a bit.

         “Don’t play victim, and I will. A green tea, please.” Vivi took one from the fridge behind her and handed it to Haseul after she paid. Haseul took a sip and spit it. It was awful. She looked at the expiration date. Three years ago.

         “Hey, what the hell, Vivi?!” She asked, pointing at the expiration date. Vivi giggled.

         “You looked for it.” And in that moment Haseul realized why the store was closing, and why she didn’t want it to.

         “The store is going to close, isn’t it?” She asked without thinking much about it, even if she kind of knew the answer. She just wanted to hear it out of Vivi’s mouth.

         “Yup.” Vivi said. She was looking at her phone again. “Don’t ask things you already know.” She said. Haseul’s heart clenched. It was harder than she thought, hearing it. Especially coming from Vivi’s mouth.

         “And…” ‘where are you going to work?’ ‘when is it going to close down?’ ‘aren’t you sad?’ ‘what will happen now?’. Those were some of the questions Haseul wished she could ask, but didn’t. “It’s kinda sad, isn’t it? I mean, so many things happened here…” She could picture all of them— all the times Hyunjin literally made the bread on the shelves disappear, the time Chaewon set Jiwoo’s slime on fire by accident (it wasn’t an accident), the time Hyejoo knocked all the shelves off by accident (it was an accident), the time Yeojin tried to buy booze and Vivi let her, and the time Jinsol tried to and Vivi (plus Jungeun) didn’t let her, the time Heejin knocked herself out against the door because she thought it was automatic, the time Yerim hid in the closet to scare Sooyoung but forgot to jump out of it and fell asleep there (staying there for the night) and all the times she had gone there to buy origami paper and chatted with Vivi about everything but nothing at the same time. Those and many other memories raced through her mind. It was sad. It was too sad to handle.

         “Uh, yeah. I guess.” Haseul realized Vivi’s eyes were teary. She nudged her arm.

         “You want to cry, don’t you?” She asked, smiling, even though she felt the same.

         “No. I don’t cry.”

         “Your eyes are teary, don’t lie, c’mon! Let’s cry together! Let’s be tear-friends!”

         “Shut up and leave, will you? You already got your tea.” Haseul liked to tease Vivi and Vivi hated to be teased. Haseul’s smile turned bigger.

         “The tea had expired, though.” And Vivi’s expression in that mere instant was pure comedic gold.

 

* * *

 

         “I didn’t think you had made this many.” Yeojin said as she counted the seemingly endless bunch of cranes. Haseul nodded. She didn’t think they were that many, either. They weren’t halfway done and they already had counted more or less six hundred. And that was a lot. Maybe the legend was just a legend, in the end. Maybe it was all bullshit, as Yeojin would put it. And maybe, probably, surely, it had been a bad idea to count them. Because upon realizing that any number of cranes was way too small for her to meet her soulmate, Haseul would finally lose all hope.

         “You okay, sis?” Yeojin asked. “We can stop counting if you wanna.” She said. And for once, Haseul decided to take care of her mental health first.

         “Yeah.” She said. “I didn’t think they’d be so many.” Haseul said, repeating what Yeojin had said. She sighed. She felt tired, but she hadn’t done much. She felt as if her mood had ran a marathon. She felt full of tiredness and sadness and just wanted to become air and fly away.

         “Me neither. I also didn’t know you were storing them up in your closet.” After a short pause, Yeojin added: “That’s why you started using my closet…” Haseul smiled.

         “And that’s why you started to use my clothes.” She hit Yeojin’s head lightly and playfully. Yeojin moved away, frowning yet smiling.

         “Soulmates don’t mean anything, if you think about it. They’re just this government conspiracy thingy. I watched it over on YouTube, I’ll send you the link. It made lots of sense. Like, soulmates not existing and all. Though the intro to the video looks like a Minecraft youtuber one. So beware of that.” Yeojin said, lying back and staring at the cracks on the ceiling.

         “You talk like you aren’t one of those people.” Haseul said, lying back as well. Yeojin remained quiet but looked at her with one of her oh-so-funny expressions only she could pull. “But I disagree, actually. I mean, maybe they’re a government conspiracy or whatever, and I’m gonna stop making those-those dumb cranes,” Her heart ached a bit when saying that, so she hurried to keep talking. “But when you see all these pairs of soulmates, be them romantic or platonic, they match just like that, you know what I mean? Like, there’s something about their relationship that just…” She remained silent. “Is like that thing.” Like puzzle pieces being brought together, like something clicking in your heart and life, like finding someone who understands yet doesn’t. Something like that.

         “Gotcha.” Yeojin said. She was one of the few people that could understand her when she didn’t find the right words. “Can’t wait ‘till you see the fireworks, sis.” She added. Her voice was honest and Haseul knew Yeojin meant it: when one realized another person was their soulmate, they felt some kind of firework thing, or some people liked to put it like that. No one was sure how to explain it and some people speculated everyone felt it in a different way. Still, her sister was wishing for her to realize who her soulmate was and that was enough. She smiled.

         “Thanks.” She said. She wouldn’t lie, she wished to feel the fireworks too.

 

* * *

 

         But when she realized it, it was too late. It was a Friday, just like five years ago. She was inside her bedroom and there was only one origami paper left. She looked at it and decided to make something out of it. A crane, of course. As she started folding it, she realized how sad she’d be when she didn’t go buy more paper from Vivi ever again. So she made the crane slowly and carefully. Maybe she’d gift it to Vivi once she finished. She’d drop by and give her the crane and ask her to visit if she got a new job. She’d heard around that she was thinking about flying back to Hong-Kong and get a job there. A part of her didn’t want her to leave. Every part of her didn’t want her to leave.

         When she finished the crane, she realized it. Even before her closet doors opened because of all the cranes that were trying to fly out of it, she realized it: Vivi was her soulmate. It was obvious, it had always been obvious. Dammit, she thought. How stupid could I be? Am I in some kind of clichéd story, those Heejin likes to read? Dammit, dammit, dammit. It felt like several bombs exploding inside her chest. It felt distressing.

         So she started running. She didn’t have to follow the cranes and ran with them, flied with them, being a part of them (though she felt a bit more like a dove). The sun was setting and Jo Haseul was running like insane, wearing slippers and looking scared to death and excited and messy and desperate. She was finally desperate. At this moment of her life, Jo Haseul felt as if she lived in a movie of some sort. She could see herself running among all of those colorful paper cranes. She could se herself in slow motion, arriving to the store, breathing heavily, Vivi asking why she came running if she could’ve stayed home in that ironic tone of voice she used to joke around. In the movie she was picturing, the store was open and Vivi there. There wasn’t a huge sign saying ‘ON SALE’ on the door. In her movie, the store was as stored with various random and miscellaneous things as always, not an empty room it now was. In her movie, Vivi was waiting for her, with her typical ‘don’t mess with me I’m too old’ expression on her face.

         Vivi wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Haseul didn’t know where she lived— no one did. She now hated the fact that Vivi was such a mystery. She saw the cranes flying up to the sky. She saw them flying towards the sun. Damn everything, Haseul thought. Why didn’t she tell me she was going to leave?

         She texted her in that moment. Her hands where shaky and she felt like crying. She started doing so almost instantly. She didn’t want to, but she did. She didn’t want to care— no, she did, but not like this. She didn’t want to care like this.

         ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ She typed. She wanted to go straight to the point and didn’t feel like pretending she was okay. She wasn’t crying because Vivi was her soulmate and she had left without telling her; she was crying because Vivi was her friend and left without telling her. She would’ve liked to say goodbye. She would’ve loved to.

         The answer came tight away. Haseul didn’t think she’d have her phone charged. Haseul didn’t think she’d answer.

         ‘didn’t want to have a sad situation. wanted our last moments together to be happy.’. And Haseul hated that it made sense, though she was pretty sure Vivi did it because she wanted to have this certain image and she would break it if she cried when saying bye. Haseul was sure she was sensitive. She sure was.

         ‘Who am I gonna buy the paper from now?’

         ‘still haven’t seen the fireworks?’

         ‘I can’t if you’re not here’

         Vivi disconnected. Haseul looked at the sun. It had almost set. She looked at the store and smiled. She was going to miss those days. She was going to miss them forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, i hope you all like this. i hope i've been improving since the first chapter and that yall are enjoying this as much as me B^) also, i was thinking about opening a cc to talk you y'all and a twt acc for aus, but i'm still thinking about it. idk. anyways, i hope you all like this and take care, remember to smile and peace out! o7


	5. alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hyewon au in which the red string of fate shows up when your soulmate is near.

         Chaewon was different. She was like no other. Hyejoo liked to think that Chaewon was like spring. Changing and full of surprises and beautiful and great and so it goes. Hyejoo liked to see her smile and hear her laugh. When Chaewon smiled, she instantly felt a smile form on her face. Chaewon was different and Hyejoo loved that, because she was different, too.

         “—and that’s how Sooyoung got banned from that library.” Chaewon finished talking and Hyejoo was daydreaming. They were cuddled up and naturally Hyejoo couldn’t help but to be lost in thought for a bit. It was autumn and the weather was starting to be colder, and even if it wasn’t really cold, they still used it as an excuse to cuddle up under an old blanket in Chaewon’s house. They had met previous week and they already had their little tradition kind of things. Hyejoo’s heart raced when she thought of that. She liked their little traditions, she liked their own little world.

“Hyejoo? Were you listening?” Chaewon asked, looking at her. Hyejoo couldn’t tell what the expression on her face meant. That made her feel dumb (even if Yerim insisted it was all due to her being insecure and not dumb, at all). Thing is that when Hyejoo was with Chaewon she felt something weird inside of her. She felt connections being made, like stars flying through the sky and forming constellations. It was that kind of feeling inside her chest. Something new. Sea waves going calm and wind gently caressing someone’s face. Something like that.

         “Uh. Yeah.” She muttered. Then, she started humming. She was tired. She hadn’t slept much the night before— she hadn’t slept much ever since she started waking up in the middle of the night almost every night, covered in sweat, shaking and with the vague image of a nightmare crawling around her mind, her heart racing and mind numb. Today she was finding it harder to concentrate than she did most of the time. She was spacing out like a cadet every other minute. Maybe Chaewon didn’t like that. Maybe Chaewon didn’t like her. Maybe Chaewon regretted meeting her. Maybe Chaewon—

         “Are you okay?” Chaewon asked. Hyejoo felt thankful because she didn’t say ‘you look kinda down, are you upset?’. Hyejoo didn’t like when people said that because it wasn’t because she was upset but because she was shy, and she was shy because she was insecure, and when people said that it made her feel more insecure and therefore become shier.

         “Yeah, I am.” She said. “I’m just tired.” She added, in a small tone of voice (smaller than usual). She felt Chaewon hold her hand tight. Hyejoo looked at their hands holding the other and then at their fingers, connected by the red string of fate. Hyejoo didn’t believe in destiny before she saw the string hanging from Chaewon’s finger and connecting it to hers. She didn’t believe in destiny before because even if there was a string hanging from her finger, who assured things would work out with the person the string led her to? She didn’t believe in all the legends that went around, those urban myths that for some reason always seemed to be true.

         Hyejoo cuddled closer to Chaewon. She closed her eyes. Things were like that, sometimes. She wanted to cry. She didn’t think she’d ever meet her soulmate. Never in her life she would’ve thought there was someone out there who was connected with her, because in Son Hyejoo’s world, she was always alone, always all by herself. In Son Hyejoo's world, there wasn’t anyone who could care less about her.

Hyejoo was three years old when she remembered her family moving for the first time, but her parents told her it wasn’t the first time they did so (which was an awful thing to hear, at least in her opinion). And even after that time it was an endless stream of moving and moving and moving. Hyejoo didn’t know life in the same place and was homeschooled (if she could call the places they lived in ‘home’).

         Sometimes her parents would take her to a near park or somewhere like that to get a rest from work and a bit of fresh air. Hyejoo would be nervous all the way there and break down crying when they arrived. She felt alone when they went there, at least more than usual. All the kids seemed to know each other and she felt like she was missing something. She felt so nervous she couldn’t even explain it. She felt like she was different. After a few times, she stopped trying to make friends. She wasn’t able to talk to people she didn’t know. She just wasn’t. And when she did have to courage to go and say hi to someone, they looked at her like she was some sort of weirdo. She didn’t like when people stared at her like that. She hated it. So she stopped trying to make friends and decided that things were like that— some people have friends and others don’t. That’s how life keeps things balanced, that’s how the earth manages to spin even after all this time.

         And it wasn’t only the friend thing: there was also the soulmate thing. She wished there wasn’t any soulmate thing from the start, and that life was like in those fictional stories in which people didn’t have a soulmate and just tried to work it out with whomever. She didn’t like to stare at her little finger and feel like nothing would ever be tied there. So she lost hope; she didn’t have any since the start.

         She grew up, and one day her parents dropped her at her grandmother’s. They said that they’d prefer if she spent her last high school years going to the same high school, and said that she could even make some friends there, which was a code for ‘you’re turning into too much trouble and you’ve bored us’. ‘As if it isn’t your fault that I have no friends,’ Hyejoo wanted to say, but ‘thanks,’ was what actually came out of her mouth. So she moved there and that’s it. Her parents were that attached to her. On the other hand, her grandmother was cool. She was nice and had always cared about her, ever since she was a kid. She always called her for her birthdays and visited her as much as possible. Things were starting to look up, she thought. Finally.

         That until her first school day, one week ago. When she arrived at her new school, she noticed everyone was staring at her. Everyone. She thought that it was due to her being the new student, but there were too many people there for them to notice who’s new and who’s not. She looked down. She didn’t want to make eye-contact with anyone. That’s when she noticed the string that was tied on her little finger, leading her inside of the school. Hyejoo dropped her books. She covered her mouth and looked at her hand wide-eyed and feeling like fainting. Which she did, three seconds later. What a way to start her school-life, huh.

        

* * *

 

         “So she’s dead?”

         “For the fifth time today, Yeojin, no, she isn’t dead. She fainted. And no, she’s not having a funeral. And no, school isn’t going to be postponed until they explain her mysterious death.”

         “Ah, you’re so nice. It sure is fun to talk to you, Jungeun. It sure is.”

         “Why did she faint, though?”

         “I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t eat breakfast?”

         “Do you think she’s still hungry, Heejin-ah? I’ve got some food… uh… somewhere, I guess, and I can give it to her.”

         “Uh. I don’t know. And I hope so, Hyunjin, so you can finally share your snacks with another human being once and for all.”

         “When is she gonna wake up?”

         “Before Chaewon arrives, hopefully.”

         Hyejoo had been hearing those persons discussing more or less the same things over and over again for the last fifteen minutes. She had counted five different voices, which seemed to go by the names Heejin, Hyunjin, Yeojin, Jungeun and Haseul. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She didn’t want to think she was weird or something like that (as if people opening their eyes was something weird). Anyways, she didn’t want to open her eyes. She felt like she didn’t want to get involved in whatever was happening there.

         (She also didn’t want to see where that string was leading her too, either. She even wished her detached parents wouldn’t have left her with her caring and loving grandma. That’s how anxious she felt).

         “How do you think she’ll react?”

         “Who? The girl who fainted?”

         “Aside from her. I mean Chaewon. She was always going on and on about meeting her soulmate, and one random day she’s finally here! Must be really exciting. Talk about a fairy-tale.”

         “Shut up. You met your soulmate the day you were born.” That was a new voice. She felt some of them giggling, and she was pretty sure that the girl that had talked before (probably Heejin; Hyejoo had a good ear for voices and was pretty sure it was Heejin’s voice) was blushing.

         “Actually, it wasn’t the day I was born, Vivi, thank you very much. It was like, three years later? Still, meeting your soulmate at such a young age takes all the thrill out of it.”

         “Hey, loser, don’t say that.”

         “I didn’t mean it like that, Hyunjin-ah, and you know it. Also, you’re the loser in the relationship.”

         Hyejoo decided to open her eyes in that moment. She thought that it was better since if Chaewon hadn’t arrived yet, then she wouldn’t be the first person she saw when she opened her eyes. Everyone was looking at her, as if they had been staring at her closed eyes until she opened them. Weird.

         She also didn’t have time to say anything because the girls had already started talking to her.

         “Hi, hi. You feeling alright?” One of the girls asked. ‘She must be Haseul,’ Hyejoo thought.

         “Yeah, I guess.” Hyejoo muttered. Her head hurt a bit and she was avoiding looking at her hand as much as possible.

         “I’m —we’re!— glad! I’m Jo Haseul. I’m a senior.” She extended her arm and Hyejoo took her hand. Then, they all took turns to introduce themselves. Vivi and Jungeun were seniors like Haseul, Heejin and Hyunjin were juniors and Yeojin was a freshman. Hyejoo introduced herself too— Son Hyejoo, sophomore. New in town like every protagonist ever.

         “So, why did ya faint?” Yeojin asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, sounding so casual Hyejoo felt as if they were friends since forever. Hyejoo could see how all the older girls tried to contain a sigh at the question (all the older girls meaning exclusively Jungeun and Hyunjin. The others seemed to be used to it or too tired to do so).

         “Don’t ask that, dumbass. She just woke up.” Hyunjin said, hitting the back of Yeojin’s head slightly. Even so, Yeojin looked at Hyejoo. Her eyes were playful and they seemed to have something electric about them, some sort of energy Hyejoo hadn’t seen before.

         “It’s-it’s okay. It doesn’t matter, I mean.” Hyejoo said. She wanted to cause a good impression and she honestly didn’t mind Yeojin asking that because she’d have to face that question sooner or later, and she preferred sooner. “And, actually, I’m-I’m not entirely sure. I think it was because…” She stopped talking. She didn’t want to look down, she didn’t want to look at her finger. And if she did, she wanted it to have no string attached to it. But she had to be brave. Like the question, she’d have to face it sooner or later. She looked at her little finger. The bright red string was still hanging from it.

         The girls noticed she was staring at her finger and let out a small and knowing ‘ooh’.

         “Then I guess you must be happy you started coming to this school, right? I mean, I hadn’t seen you before. You’ve gotta be new.” Yeojin said. Hyejoo looked at her and noticed that Yeojin hadn’t broken eye contact with her since the start. She wished her eyes could shine as much as hers someday. “I know everyone around there place.” She added, placing her hands on the back of her head as if she was on the beach.

         “I—” Hyejoo was about to answer when the door opened. Hyejoo was grateful to that.

         “Yerim! Where’s Chae?” Heejin asked. The other girl looked like she had been running but didn’t seem tired at all; she seemed to be energized.

         “That’s the thing I came to tell you. She got sent home.” She said. Then, she looked to Hyejoo’s direction and waved and smiled and Hyejoo waved back, feeling strangely welcome by this Yerim girl that she had just met.

         “Why did she get sent home?” Haseul asked.

         “I bet this is Sooyoung’s fault.” Vivi commented, looking elsewhere. Yerim pointed at her, exclaiming ‘bingo!’.

         “She broke a mirror by accident, but she said it had something to do with Sooyoung? I’m not really sure because the principal was rushing her out of the school, even if she was going on and on about the red string of fate and principals being a mess these days and about love always winning and, well, you know how Chaewon can get when she gets upset. Thing is she got sent home and Sooyoung is hiding somewhere. So—” She looked at Hyejoo, and after a few seconds she told her her name because that’s why she was looking at her like that: for her to tell her her name. “Hyejoo will have to wait a bit before meeting her soulmate.”

         They seemed to wait for Hyejoo to say something. They were probably waiting for her to say something such as ‘oh golly, I’ll have to wait more for the moment I’ve been waiting for all my life, darn it’, but Hyejoo wasn’t going to say that. She felt relieved. Meeting her soulmate just after fainting was something that would probably would make her faint again. So she didn’t say anything about that, muttered thanks and walked away. She had to go to class. That was what school was for. That and ignoring the fact that you have a soulmate.

 

* * *

 

         “Hey! Hyejoo, wait up!” It was Yerim. She shared a few classes with her, an she had acted nice to her just how Hyejoo had predicted: she was a friend of Chaewon’s, of course she’d be nice to her. People loved to play cupid.

         “Yeah?” Hyejoo asked. She wanted to go home as soon as possible and maybe take a nap or stare into existence or just forget everything had ever happened. She didn’t want to meet Chaewon (because somehow she had broken a mirror my accident) and she didn’t want Chaewon to meet her (because she felt pathetic).

         “Wanna go eat something? Like, ice-cream, maybe? There’s a really nice ice-cream shop here. I bet you’d like it.” Yerim said. “You like ice-cream, right?” She added, her tone of voice going a little more worried at the thought of Hyejoo not liking ice-cream. But Hyejoo nodded.

         “Then let’s go! Time flies, so should we!” And Yerim started walking-skipping and it reminded Hyejoo of the princesses from the cartoons she watched when she was a kid. Hyejoo expected Yerim to talk to the birds and squirrels and laugh with them as if they were friends.

         They arrived at the store and got their ice-creams right away. Hyejoo got vanilla and Yerim a flavor Hyejoo had never herd about before, but was colorful and seemed to taste fine. Yerim offered her a bit but Hyejoo declined. She didn’t want to be a nuisance.

         “So, you’re new here, right? When did you arrive?” She asked.

         “Yesterday.” She remembered her new bedroom and the quantity of things she had to unpack versus the quantity of things she had unpacked, which was more than unbalanced.

         “Oh, so you’re new-new.” Yerim smiled (wasn’t she always? Hyejoo had known her for a day and she already noticed her smile was honest and permanent). “I hope we get to be great friends. I mean, you seem cool. I like you already!” Yerim said. That was the moment Hyejoo noticed she wasn’t going to be her friend only to get involved in the new soulmate soap opera that was about to start. Yerim didn’t seem to be like most people. So Hyejoo smiled. She also wasn’t like most people.

         “I hope so, too.”

         She didn’t meet Chaewon that day, nor the next one. She spent those days walking around with Yerim, trying all flavors of ice-cream she could try and getting to know each other. Hyejoo liked her. She was nice and respected her pace. She also noticed she wasn’t comfortable talking about soulmates so she didn’t, which was nice, for a change.

         She met Chaewon during the weekend by chance. By that moment Hyejoo had gotten used to ignoring her little finger. But she met her on Sunday, when she decided to go take a walk. As soon as she started walking down the street, the red string showed up on her finger. ‘Chaewon must be near,’ she thought. She started following it. The closer she got to Chaewon, the brighter the string became. She started walking faster and faster without noticing. She was starting to feel anxious and nervous and god, she just wanted to see her and that’s it. A part of her was excited, the other terrified. She didn’t know why she was doing that but she also didn’t want to stop.

         Then she hit her. Their bodies collided like two planets or trains or things that collide destructively. Hyejoo, for a moment, could see her life from above and in stop motion. Just scenes of her hitting Chaewon with her whole body and both of them falling.

         “Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch.” She heard Chaewon mutter. She stood up and walked where Chaewon was lying, extending her arm and looking worried sick. The girl was small and they had crashed strongly. In a moment of panic, Hyejoo thought she could’ve broken her.

         “I’m so-I’m so sorry! I —crap!— I didn’t mean to—” And Chaewon looked at her. From the floor, Chaewon looked at her with curious eyes. Hyejoo’s breath stopped for a second. She was heavenly. Hyejoo hated corny comparisons, but Chaewon looked like an angel. And when she took her hand (the hand that had the red string tied around its little finger), she instantly held onto it like she had always done so. There was a familiarity in the way that they looked at each other that made Hyejoo feel less nervous. Maybe that’s how your soulmate is supposed to make you feel; better and calmer and happier. It was meant to be. Maybe. She wasn’t sure about it, but there was something about Chaewon that made her believe that it destiny, and that they could work it out.

         “So you’re Hyejoo.” Chaewon said. Hyejoo helped her stand up. She smiled and cleaned the dirt she had on her clothes in a sophisticated manner. “And really nice, too.” She added. She extended her arm. For a second, Hyejoo didn’t know what to do.

         “I bet you know already, but I’m Chaewon. Nice to meet you, soulmate.”  She said. Hyejoo took her hand. She noticed how small it was, now.

         “Nice to me-meet you, too. I-I’m Hyejoo.” She managed to say.

         “I hope we get along.”

         (‘I hope so, too.’)

 

* * *

 

         And they did. After just a few days they were inseparable. Maybe Hyejoo was too clingy and got attached to people she liked easily, or maybe Chaewon was a little too nice and caring and overall the best soulmate ever. None of them was at fault when it came to how fast their relationship went and how loving it became. Hyejoo met Chaewon's family and Chaewon always nagged her about wanting to meet her grandma. She didn’t want to invite her over because it was embarrassing and didn’t want to tell her parents she had met her soulmate because they cared too little about her and had always been like that. She didn’t want their clichéd story to have an angsty clichéd end (such as Hyejoo being dragged back to live like nomads with her parents and Chaewon crying because that’s sad, right?).

         And now she lied with her on the couch and thought that life couldn’t get any better than that. Truly, it couldn’t get any better.

         But Hyejoo’s nightmares were persistent and the more days passed the more she started to panic and break. Every night she had a different one, but they always lead to the same thing: she was all alone again (she always had been), and none of the friends she had made now were real, and her grandmother actually hated her, and her parents were going to take her with them to a deserted and far away place. And, of course, Chaewon didn’t know who she was, and if she knew, she looked at her like she was a weirdo. Hyejoo hated when people looked at her like she was a weirdo. She hated it.

         She didn’t tell Chaewon. She didn’t tell anyone about her nightmares. But Chaewon’s persistence led her to knowing. One day she insisted she wanted to go to her place, and after a whole day of pouting and saying ‘pretty pretty please’ she agreed. Chaewon and her grandma got along spectacularly and Hyejoo was really happy that two people she loved so much liked the other too. Everything was good and nice until Chaewon said she wanted to stay the night.

         “Well, can I?” She asked. Hyejoo kind of wanted her to. She wanted to cuddle to sleep and wake up by her side, even if they slept on different beds (Hyejoo's bedroom was originally a guestroom and it had two beds). But she also kind of didn’t want her to. She didn’t want her to see she drooled and her morning face and she didn’t want her to know she woke up crying almost every night because she had nightmares. She didn’t want her to see her like that, to have that image of her. Hyejoo thought she was pathetic and didn’t want Chaewon to think the same.

         “Uh...” Hyejoo couldn’t think of any excuse for her not to stay. “You’ve got no pajamas.” She managed to say after more or less ten seconds.

         “I’ll go home, say I’ll stay at your place and boom, problem solved.” She said. Then, she noticed Chaewon noticed her expression. “Hey, if you don’t want to, it’s okay.” She said. She always minded Hyejoo’s pace.

         “No, it’s not that. It’s that I—” She couldn’t say it. She took a deep breath. “Go get your things. I’ll be waiting.” And Chaewon hugged her and she sighed. She hoped this wasn’t a long night.

 

* * *

 

         It was four am when she woke up. This time, the nightmare was more vivid than ever. In this one, Chaewon and all her friends humiliated her before all the people she knew. They called her names and she didn’t want to remember any of it. She woke up crying, sobbing. She hoped Chaewon didn’t hear her and tried to calm herself down. She couldn’t and the weight she felt on her chest was starting to become too much.

         Then, Chaewon crawled up her bed and hugged her. Even if it was dark, she cleaned her tears. Hyejoo couldn’t stop crying and tried to hug Chaewon back and tight.

         “It’s okay.” Chaewon said. Her voice sounded calm and even melodic. “It’s okay, Hyejoo. I’m here. There’s nothing to worry about, and if there is, I’ll kick its ass.”

         And that was the moment Hyejoo cried the loudest, because she noticed she wasn’t alone anymore and she wasn’t going to be alone ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone, i hope you're liking this story TT remember to smile and see you around o7 peace out!


	6. she’s feeling blue because she’ll miss purple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lipsoul au in which you start to see color when you see your soulmate for the first time

         Jungeun reads the newspaper like she does every morning. She takes her time because she has to wait for Jiwoo to text her she’s almost ready to leave her house and go to hers. She takes a sip from the milked coffee she’s drinking— even after years she doesn’t find herself able to drink it again. Bad memories, she says. Mixed ones.

         She looks at a small black and white picture before reading its header and her life turns colorful. She drops the cup, it breaks and the coffee she was drinking spills all over the floor, which makes an scene go on on the white tiles. She now can see all colors and feels like going insane. She stares at the more or less apocalyptic picture in the newspaper, feeling dizzy. It’s a picture of some class from some school. She instantly can tell who her soulmate is— when she takes a close look at the picture, there’s one person that shines brighter than anyone else. A blonde girl whose face is clearer than anyone else’s. Jungeun is shaking. She can’t believe her life can turn colorful just like that. Her eyes don’t know where to look at and remain fixed at her soulmate’s face. She doesn’t want to stop looking at the black and white picture and see al the colors that now surround her.

         After taking a deep breath and pretending to don’t mind everything that’s happening at the moment, she reads the header.

‘A class’ disastrous accident’.

She swallows. She’s starting to shake even more than before. She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths, convincing herself she has to read what happened. She just has to.

She opens her eyes and tries to focus. She reads it in a rush. Apparently, the class she was reading about was part of an accident when they were traveling someplace for an excursion. There were ten deaths and the rest of the class is either in a coma or badly hurt. No one is fine. Jungeun can’t believe it and her instinct instantly wants to know if the girl is alright. She needs to know if the girl is alright.

And she receives Jiwoo’s text. She takes her phone but can’t answer. She drops it and notices there are tears going down her face. She looks at the liquid she dropped again, at the broken cup and her phone— its screen cracked. She still sees all colors and feels sick because of it. She wonders if seeing colors for the first time is as revolting for everyone else. There are too many of them. They’re too bright. They’re overwhelming, as overwhelming as knowing your soulmate is either dead or in a bad condition.

She drops down and can’t hold herself back. She cries loudly, feeling embarrassed and wanting to disappear.

 

* * *

 

Jiwoo says nothing as they walk to their high school. The things she does are hug her tight and warm, ask her if she’s okay from time to time and offer her to take her home when she sees her cry harder. She cares about her like no other and that makes Jungeun feel sadder, for some reason.

(She also is embarrassed; Jiwoo found her crying on her kitchen floor. She doesn’t like it when people see her crying, even more if that person is Jiwoo, because Jiwoo cares, she cares so much, and Jungeun doesn’t know if she likes it when people care about her.)

It’s hard to walk to school because even if Jiwoo is hugging her and minding what goes on inside of her mind she can’t believe the color palette she’s seeing. She’s the first one of her group of friends who’s able to see color, now. Before, she liked to avoid all types of conversations involving soulmates because she thought it was embarrassing, but now she wishes she didn’t— she would’ve given everything to know what colors are all about so they wouldn’t have taken her for surprise like this. Still, a part of her knows nothing could’ve prepared her for this type of thing. No words can explain colors.

So she looks around, looking like the girl from the exorcist, kind of. The color she’s liked the most until now is Jiwoo’s hair color. It fits her perfectly; how it frames her face like a work of art, and the way her eyes shine now that Jungeun can see color is just incredible.

They arrive to school and go to their classroom. The day goes on like usual, except for the color thing. Jungeun is silently judging every color and looking around for their names (which she knew from before, but couldn’t match them with their respective color before because of her colorblindness). The one she likes the most until now is red (sorry, Jiwoo’s hair color), but she thinks it sounds clichéd so she doesn’t want to tell anyone.

Jiwoo and her go home together like they always do. Before dropping her off, Jiwoo looks at Jungeun with cute and hopeful eyes.

“You can ask whatever you’re thinking about, you know?” She chuckles. Jiwoo giggles like she always does when Jungeun catches what she’s thinking like that.

“Okay, okay. But if you don’t wanna answer, don’t, alright?” Jungeun nods, thinking of all the questions she thinks Jiwoo could ask her. “How does it feel?” She asks.

“What?”

“To find your soulmate, dummy.” Jiwoo says like it’s something obvious. Jungeun is left open-mouthed. She was sure Jiwoo was going to ask her something about colors— hell, the thought of her soulmate had been resting on the back of her head all day after she arrived to school. Colors had taken her life over, she wouldn’t lie. Over a day and she was already crazy for and because of them.

“It’s…” Jungeun can’t find the words, and Jiwoo pats her shoulder.

“Think about it, will you?” And she leaves. Jungeun doesn’t know why Jiwoo likes to pretend she’s an angel, but she does and she’s used to it by now (almost).

She walks home staring at the almost orange sky. She needs to find her soulmate, she thinks. She needs to do so before something happens.

 

* * *

 

She’s riding her bike on a sunny yet cold Sunday morning. It’s nice to discover it’s red after she stopped being colorblind. She likes it even more than she did before. She’s listening to music and going to the hospital she heard the kids from the accident are at on the news. She hopes her soulmate is there too and not resting at the nearest cemetery.

She doesn’t know what she’s going to say when she gets there, but she has a lot of time to think. The hospital is almost two hours away from her house. So she rides her bike calmly, looking at all the green the earth is giving her. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and sighs. She likes to do that— she thinks it’s relaxing.

When she arrives at the hospital she’s only able to mutter a few words— something about a friend of hers being badly hurt or something like that. All of the things she had planned to say are forgotten, but none of the nurses seem to care about her, that due to the fact that because of the quantity of kids there, the quantity of guests has boomed, which makes the wide waiting room look smaller than a bathroom stall. Anyways, the hospital authorities have more important things to care about than a sad-looking girl, so Jungeun can start walking around with no problem. She’s too afraid to ask where the girl she’s looking for is and she doesn’t even know her name, so she figures she has got to walk until she finds her.

People don’t notice her and Jungeun wonders if she’s become invisible. She ends up in the farthest edge of the hospital, feeling cold and starting to dislike the smell there. It smells like something that wants to pretend it’s clean but it’s not. She goes to the hospital yard, where guests can rest and drink something at the cafeteria. She’s thinking about getting some water and then leaving. She has been walking around for an hour and hasn’t found the girl she’s looking for, making her start wonder why she wants to see her so badly.

But when she goes outside, she sees her. She’s sitting on a wheelchair, those old wheelchairs that make people who need wheelchairs sigh. They’re uncomfortable and hard to roll on, made by ignorant people for cheap hospitals. She stops walking. Her soulmate is sitting on a wheelchair, her left eye patched, her right one closed and a cast on both of her legs and right arm. She seems to be taking energy from the sun’s light. Jungeun thinks she’s a goddess. She’s mesmerized by her beauty. She seems calm and makes Jungeun feel like she’s floating on the sea, feeling the waves gently touching her skin. She feels as if her heart is some kind of bird flying through the darkest of nights but still finding a way between the trees. She now understands that she hasn’t seen any actual color until now— as she sees her soulmate in real life like that, the colors turn ten times brighter and more beautiful.

She doesn’t know if to walk there or to stay where she is. The girl leaves her time to do neither— she opens her eye and without looking at her she leaves. She doesn’t seem to be bothered by the wheelchair’s poor design and leaves just like that. Jungeun looks at her and does the same. She feels like she doesn’t know where she is.

 

* * *

 

She goes back there on Tuesday. She was riding her bike to school and suddenly felt the urge to go to the hospital. She starts riding it there and takes a shortcut. After an hour and forty minutes she’s there. She goes to the yard instantly and sees the girl there again, in the exact same place as the last time. There is not as much sun as the last time, though, but her eye remains closed and her aura calm. Jungeun walks where she is, trying not to make much noise, and sits in the nearest bench. She closes her eyes too and tries to feel as calm as her soulmate does, which is hard considering her heart is still racing because of the hectic bike ride she took there. She opens her eyes when her heart has calmed down and looks beside her. The girl is gone, but her calmness is not.

Jungeun walks to the cafeteria and buys a black coffee. She hates black coffee; she takes a sip and then throws the almost-full cup in the trash bin. She stares at the yard and lets her mind wonder. She still feels lost and confused and doesn’t know why she’s going there like a creep to just sit down next to a stranger who could or not be her soulmate. She’s sure she is, still— there’s something about her that makes her feel like home. She thinks she needs Jiwoo’s help because she has always been the good one when it comes to feelings, but at the same time she knows Jiwoo will tell her this is the only time she can’t help her. Jungeun mind is racing and her heart is feeling as anxious as ever. What is she supposed to do? Talk to the girl? Tell her she’s her soulmate? As her to open her unpatched eye, look at her and tell her if she sees color?

The girl from the coffee shop (her nametag says that hello her name is Haseul) asks her if something is wrong. Jungeun mutters a no and leaves, knowing Haseul is looking at her like she’s a liar.

(Which she is.)

 

* * *

 

She starts going there everyday. After class and before class. Sometimes she’d leave in the middle of the day and bike there. She finds more and more shortcuts and starts biking faster and faster as time goes by. After three weeks she can arrive there in fifty minutes. She thinks she’s going crazy.

The girl (Jinsol, Haseul told her one day without being prompted to do so) is always there, eyes closed and presence dreamy. Jungeun always sits next to her and calms down. She likes being near her, and Jinsol doesn’t seem to mind.

One day, the twenty-fifth day Jungeun goes there, Jinsol holds her hand. Jungeun has her eyes closed and doesn’t open them. She squeezes her soulmate’s hand tightly and lovingly. It’s warm and Jungeun hands feel secure because of its touch. Jungeun doesn’t want to ever let go; Jinsol lets go first. Jungeun thinks she hears her mutter a ‘sorry’, but she isn’t sure. So she opens her eyes. Jinsol is gone.

Two days later, Jinsol sings. Jungeun, lost in thought, starts humming her favorite song as she holds Jinsol’s hand. Suddenly, she hears her soulmate sing. Her singing is deep and full of feeling. Jungeun doesn’t stop humming nor opens her eyes. She wants to dream. She feels Jinsol’s voice taking her to another reality, a reality in which they didn’t meet like this. Jungeun tries not to cry thinking about a universe in which she met Jinsol in a happier kind of situation.

“But this is perfect.” She whispers. Her voice is shaky and she thinks she sounded dumb and needy.

“You stopped humming.” Jinsol’s voice sounds disappointed. Jungeun manages to keep her eyes closed. There’s magic in closed eyes. There’s magic in imagining.

“You stopped singing.” She says. She doesn’t want to sound pouty, but she does. She feels Jinsol giggle. Her heart stops. Jinsol is too much for her small, shy, gay heart.

“Because you stopped humming.” She says, as if she’s telling her that she’s so silly and funny.

“Oh, come on. Sing for me.” Jungeun says, holding Jinsol’s hand tighter. Jinsol squeezes it back.

“Not if you don’t sing for me first.”

And even if Jungeun had always been told that singing was just a waste of time, she sings her heart out. She can’t even hear her voice because she’s too focused on making her heart not explode. But when Jinsol joins her, it becomes too much. Her voice starts shaking, Jinsol starts squeezing her hand tighter. She starts to feel safe and tries to keep singing even if her insecurities are taking over. Suddenly, Jinsol isn’t holding her hand anymore. Jungeun is alone.

(But she doesn’t feel alone at all.)

 

* * *

 

         “What’s your favorite color?”

         “Uh… Red.”

         “Wow. What a fancy woman I’ve met.”

         “I mean it! Don’t make fun of me.”

         “I wasn’t making fun of you. I think it’s cool. People who like red the most are always cool kids.”

         “You’re lying.”

         “I’m not lying. Not lying at all.”

         “Then what’s your favorite color?”

         “That’s easy. Blue.”

         “It makes sense.”

         “Why?”

         “It’s a secret.”

         “Wha—? Tell me, come on!”

 

* * *

 

“Are you okay?” Jungeun asks one day.

“Of course I am.” Jinsol says. Her voice sounds light and careless, giggly.

“I mean it.” Jungeun says, thinking Jinsol has taken her question as a joke and feeling a bit offended because of it. Jinsol remains silent for what seem to be hours, but after the long pause, she sighs and answers. Her voice sounds plain and sad. It’s a voice that makes Jungeun wish she hadn’t asked that question.

“I… There are no words, Jungeun-ah. No words to describe how I feel right now, how I’ve been feeling lately. But for better or worse thanks to this I met you, and when I’m with you, I— you make me fly high. When I’m with you, I can stand up and see and no one is suffering because of that damn accident and… No one is dead and no one is sad and we’re just a pair of normal soulmates, you know?” She takes a deep breath and calms down. That time is the only time Jungeun hears Jinsol sounding somewhat angry. “But it doesn’t matter, because when I’m with you, be it in this reality or other, I feel like I’m on top of the world.” She says. “Cheesy, huh? Guess I’m in too deep, but it’s okay. I like it here.” She sounds like she’s smiling, now. Jungeun squeezes her hand.

“You like it here?”

“I’m not referring to the hospital, I’m referring to— Jungeun-ah, you’ve got your eyes closed, right? I mean that. Us, together, in the world we’ve created. Don’t you like it there too?” Jinsol’s voice is hopeful and it feels Jungeun with optimism. When Jinsol talks like that she feels like everything will be alright, sooner or later.

“I… I guess. I was never good in imagining stuff, but with you…” ‘A door opens and I can fly, too’.

“It’s okay if you can’t say it. I’ll wait for you.”

And Jungeun hates to hear that, because she doesn’t know if she likes it when people care about her.

 

* * *

 

“She’s my soulmate.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“It’s not hard to tell, Jungeun.”

“What should I do now?” (‘Because I think I love her’).

“I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’ll just…”

 

* * *

 

One day Jungeun goes and Jinsol isn’t there. She sits on their bench and closes her eyes. Tears roll down her face because she knows, she just knows. She can’t believe one can become colorblind again, but here she is, crying her heart out because her life no longer is a bright rainbow but will remain bright yet opaque red forever and ever and ever.

She’s miss that hand holding hers and that one beautiful closed eye she could never see the color of. She’ll miss Jinsol’s playfulness, smart mind and funny ways. She’ll miss the way she could say things that could just make her heart implode out of joy. She’ll miss the color blue, but less than she’d miss the purple they could have become.

“You said you’d wait for me.” She whispers. She hits the bench with her closed fists. It hurts like hell, but her soul hurts even more. “You damned liar. You said you’d wait for me, didn’t you? And today… Today I was…” She feels someone walk where she is. Haseul. She sees her and runs away. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone. She needs to see Jiwoo now.

She runs home. She leaves her bike there, under the rain which only pours when one’s upset. But she doesn’t care about the noisy rain. The only thing she can hear is Jinsol’s voice, the way she hummed and sang soft words. She runs like crazy and falls more than six times but less than ten. Her knees are bleeding and her hands are too. But she keeps running. There’s nothing else she feels like she can do.

She arrives at Jiwoo’s place. She knocks the door and Jiwoo opens. She leaves her time to do nothing and starts talking.

“It feels blue, Jiwoo. Meeting your soulmate feels blue.”

Jiwoo hugs her, but just this time her embrace isn’t enough to calm her down. Just this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys, i'm back! i wanted to try something new, is this good? lol. anyways. i made a twt acc! it's @ coldwaysnoway,, i made it bc i'm kinda shy when it comes to answering comments (so i cant answer questions and talk to yall:D) and also to update you or so. anyways again, i hope you all like this and that you have a good safe weekend. remember to smile and take care! peace out o7

**Author's Note:**

> sooo hi yall i love soulmate aus and well. I wanted to try and make a collection of those. i hope i get better and that yall enjoy reading what i write. thanks for reading and see you around! also, remember to smile :D peace out!


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